Editor

Scientists at Imagine: Kevin Grazier, science advisor for Gravity and
David Kirby, author of Lab Coats in Hollywood: Science, Scientists and Cinema

As part of our Fantastic Science programme, Imagine welcomes two prominent scientists, both with close links to fantastic cinema.
On Thursday the 10th of April, American scientist Dr. David Kirby presents an overview of the relationship between scientists and the American film industry, entitled Lab Coats In Hollywood.
In his lecture The Science of Hollywood, Dr. Kevin Grazier looks at ways in which scientists make science fiction credible, using examples of Academy Award-winner Gravity (for which he was science advisor), among others. This lecture takes place on Tuesday the 15th of April.

Dr. Kevin Grazier
 

Kevin R. Grazier, Ph.D. served as the Science Advisor for several television series and movies, including SyFy Channel series "Defiance," the TNT series "Falling Skies," and the film "Gravity."

Grazier co-authored the book The "Science of Battlestar Galactica", and was an editor and contributing author for the American Chemical Society anthology "Hollywood Chemistry: When Science Met Entertainment," as well as for previous anthologies "The Science of Dune", "The Science of Michael Crichton," and "Fringe Science: Parallel Universes, White Tulips, and Mad Scientists."
 
Previously he was a research scientist and science planning engineer for 15 years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on the Cassini/Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan. He was the Investigation Scientist for the Imaging Science Subsystem instrument, and wrote mission planning and analysis software that won both JPL- and NASA-wide awards. Still an active researcher, his research areas include numerical method development, and long-term large-scale computer simulations of Solar System dynamics, evolution, and chaos.
 
Dr. Grazier is also active in bringing the wonders of science and space to the public. He teaches classes in basic astronomy, planetary science, cosmology, the search for extraterrestrial life, and the science of science fiction at UCLA, Santa Monica College, and College of the Canyons. He has appeared on several episodes of History Channel's "The Universe," Science Channel's "Alien Encounters," and National Geographic's "Naked Science". Source: IMDB.

Dr. David Kirby

Dr. Kirby received his PhD in Molecular Evolutionary Genetics from the University of Maryland at College Park and has several publications in scientific journals including Genetics and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). He worked for several years as an Assistant Professor in American University's Department of Biology.

In 2001 he decided to leave bench science to explore the relationship between science, media, and the public. To achieve this goal he undertook a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cornell University's Departments of Science &Technology Studies and Communication. After this re-training post doc he spent a year teaching science communication classes at Duke University before taking a position at the University of Manchester in the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine where he is now a Senior Lecturer in Science Communication Studies. Several of his publications address the relationship between cinema, genetics and biotechnology including essays in New Literary History, Literature and Medicine, and Science Fiction Studies.

He is also exploring the collaboration between scientists and the entertainment industry and has publications in Social Studies of Science and Public Understanding of Science on this topic. His research on the collaboration between scientists and the entertainment industry can be found in his recent book Lab Coats in Hollywood: Science, Scientists and Cinema published by MIT Press. Since its release, the book has received positive reviews in over 20 newspapers, magazines and journals including Nature, Science, Film Comment, TimesLiterary Supplement, and BBC Focus Magazine. His current research explores the role of forensic science in televisual storytelling. He is also beginning a book project examining the relationship between science, religion, and movies.

Source: http://www.chstm.manchester.ac.uk

Dr. David Kirby – Lab Coats in Hollywood

Thursday April 10, 15.00–Free tickets at the box office
Dr. Kevin Grazier – The Science of Hollywood: Gravity and Beyond
Tuesday April 15, 15.00 - Free tickets at the box office